Bashara gets public defender, August hearing date

Bob Bashara faces an Aug. 19 preliminary examination for the murder of his wife, Jane, in their Grosse Pointe Park garage.

The date for the probable-cause hearing was set Tuesday morning by Judge Kenneth King of 36th District Court in Detroit at a scheduling conference.

Bashara, who is in prison, did not attend the hearing but was represented by court-appointed attorney Mark Procida, who appeared. Also in attendance at the brief hearing was assistant Wayne County prosecutors Lisa Lindsey, Robert Moran and a third assistant prosecutor.

Procida said afterward the volume of the evidence in the case necessitated the three-month delay. Bashara waived his right to a preliminary examination within 14 days of his arraignment.

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The case involves 15 law enforcement agencies in six states, nearly 300 witnesses and more than 5,000 pages of documents.

Bashara previously was represented by Mark Kriger, who could still be retained by Bashara.

"Whether her hires another attorney is entirely up to him," said Procida, a St. Clair Shores native.

Bashara, 55, was formally charged May 1 with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation of murder as well as charges related to the investigation -- suborning of perjury during a capital trial, witness intimidation and obstruction of justice.

Bashara allegedly paid and threatened Joe Gentz to strangle his 56-year-old wife in the garage of their Middlesex home. Jane Bashara's body was found the next day, Jan. 25, 2012, in the back of her Mercedes SUV in an east-side Detroit alley.

Gentz, 48, formerly of St. Clair Shores, confessed to police in the days following the murder. He later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and in February was sentenced to 17 to 28 years in prison.

Bashara is already serving a sentence of 80 months to 20 years after admitting he tried to have Gentz killed last June while Gentz was housed in a Wayne County Jail facility.

Jane Bashara, a Mount Clemens native, was married to Bob Bashara for more than 20 years, and the couple had two grown children. She most recently worked as a marketing manager for an energy consulting company in Detroit after working for Detroit Edison for 25 years.